


Familiarity

by FaiaSakura



Series: Foxhole Ficlets [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, I did research for this fic, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, McDonald's, McNuggies, andreil week, including wiki articles and actually eating some McNuggets, this is a Serious take on McNuggies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-27 22:32:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19799095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaiaSakura/pseuds/FaiaSakura
Summary: “They’re consistent. Familiar. I had them a lot when I was on the run from my father.” Neil picked up another piece and held up the round shape to Andrew. “I used to pretend the ball-shaped nugget was an exy ball.”Neil only ever orders Chicken McNuggets from McDonald’s. Andrew finally asks why.





	Familiarity

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to [Ziegenkind](https://twitter.com/ziegenkind094) for the inspiration and [Niko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nikotheamazingspoonklepto/pseuds/Nikotheamazingspoonklepto) for beta-ing!

Andrew sits down by where Neil is perched on the roof and lights two cigarettes before handing over one to Neil, along with a crinkling McDonald’s paper bag.

Neil looks stupid as he smiles softly, scars stretching and wrinkling in familiar forms under the golden-cast light of the setting sun. His auburn curls glow with a burnished bronze halo. Andrew takes a sip of his limited edition Stroopwafel McFlurry and burns this image of Neil into his mind, adding to his collection of mental images to fall back on for a bad day.

“How was Bee?” Neil asks as he breathes in the smell of smoke and opens his takeout bag.

Andrew holds his McFlurry between his knees precariously and spoons out his first bite, savoring the creamy caramel flavor before answering. “She’s Bee.”

Neil hums in response but doesn’t poke or prod. Andrew’s two words and the impulse fast food are enough for him. It digs at Andrew with a gripping sensation in his chest, this casual acceptance, the sign of just how well Neil knows him, of how entangled they’ve become.

He wants to look away, at something that hasn’t become his whole world. He wants, even more, to never look way, to always have Neil in his sight.

Neil bites into a McNugget and chews slowly, still looking at Andrew with those clear blue eyes that have featured in Andrew’s dreams since the first time they went to Eden’s in what feels like a different lifetime ago.

 _Staring_ is what Andrew should say, and then push Neil’s face away with a finger before he could worm himself deeper into Andrew’s heart. Instead, Andrew chooses to indulge in curiosity, reviving their old truth game.

“Why McNuggets?”

While McDonald’s couldn’t be considered quality in any factor other than cheap, it had a decent variety in its menu, as far as fast food chains went. Burgers, sandwiches, fries, desserts, and even items marketed as healthy. But Neil only ever wanted the Chicken McNuggets with no sauce.

Or as Neil sometimes sleepily calls them, McNuggies.

McNuggets aren’t great as far as processed reformed chicken went. They didn’t have much flavor and the smooth batter coating got soggy much quicker than the more crumbly coatings used for fried chicken or chicken patties. Andrew didn't hold much personal regard for them as a snack or meal, preferring the dessert items on the menu.

Neil finishing chewing before looking down at his box of nuggets.

“They’re consistent. Familiar. I had them a lot when I was on the run from my father.” Neil picked up another piece and held up the round shape to Andrew. “I used to pretend the ball-shaped nugget was an exy ball.”

Andrew rolls his eyes, even as he pictures a younger Neil, maybe one with blonde hair and brown eyes, playing with his food. But he doesn’t let the mention of exy distract him from the topic, and pokes further at the subject. “There’s a ball shape?”

Andrew never examined Chicken McNuggets all that closely and figured them to be arbitrary-processed-lump shaped. The only time he’s seen shapes marketed for any kind of chicken nugget was for the dinosaur ones in the frozen section of the grocery store.

Neil laughs. “You’re normally more observant. There are four shapes: the ball, the bow-tie, the bell, and the boot.”

All b-words. Too bad there was no bee shape. Andrew examines the nuggets left in the box sitting in front of Neil and notices there are in fact four distinctly different shapes, though the one that must be the bowtie looked more like a lightning bolt.

This time, Andrew lets the silence settle over them, and takes another drag of his cigarette, letting his lungs fill with sweet nicotine before expelling the smoke over the campus view in front of them, now painted over with pinks and purples as the sun settled lower and lower past the horizon.

Neil eats his exy ball. Andrew can feel that there’s more to this subject than the fun shapes of the McNugget but lets Neil be the one to continue the subject.

He doesn’t have to wait long.

“There were McDonald’s restaurants in every place we ran to. It was convenient and cheap." Neil paused, biting his lip. "They don’t ask questions there, inside, or at the drive-through, the way people do in diners or restaurants. Nobody would have thought anything about a mother and son getting food from McDonald’s.”

Andrew pictures Mary Hatford, brusque and bitter, dodging the cheap pleasantries and nosy pestering of underpaid waitresses, instead haranguing underpaid fast-food workers. His estimate of her seems to drop lower every time Neil mentioned something new about his mother.

It didn’t explain why McNuggets were the only thing Neil ever ordered though.

Andrew waits to see if Neil will offer anything else up; otherwise, he’ll drop the topic. He knows better than to push about Neil’s time on the run.

“Drive-throughs were convenient but eating in the car was messy. Chicken McNuggets are the least messy item on the menu—the batter coating isn’t prone to crumbs and I wasn’t allowed dipping sauces that might spill—so they’re the only thing Mom would order me. You can buy a lot of McNuggets too, like in the twenty-pack. Burgers and sandwiches have lots of pieces that can fall out or drip. Fries don’t have nutritional value.”

Andrew raises an eyebrow and the implication that the other McDonald’s items have nutritional value. Neil rebutted, “Chicken McNuggets, mystery meat or not, are made of protein.”

“You sound like Kevin.”

“I don’t think Kevin has ever stepped foot in a McDonalds.”

Andrew huffs in close approximation to laughter. “He would just order the salad anyway and munch away on iceberg lettuce that's as boring as he is.”

Neil grins at him fleetingly before dimming back into bittersweet nostalgia and continuing. “I wasn’t allowed desserts either, not that I had much of a sweet tooth. Or Happy Meals. She didn’t want me to get attached to free toys that would take up valuable space in my bag.”

Andrew wonders if he could go find that patch of sand Mary Hatford was buried under and desecrate her grave. “Even I have had a Happy Meal,” he says slowly and restrained, utterly unimpressed with Neil’s mother but also knowing anger at a dead woman isn’t worth the effort.

He takes another drag of his cigarette and tries out blow away his frustration with the smoke. When that only partially works, he eats an extra large scoop of his McFlurry, letting the artificial sweetness settle over his taste buds and act as a cold balm to the lingering sparks of his fury.

The only good things that woman ever did were giving birth to Neil, taking him away from Nathan Wesninski, and dying, so that Neil and Andrew could meet. What kind of woman frequented McDonald’s but never once bought her son a Happy Meal? Happy Meals could include McNuggets. And for such a petty reason as not wanting Neil to have toys. Even Andrew had a few plush animals and plastic superhero figurines over the years, mostly left behind at foster homes when he was inevitably moved.

“It’s—” Neil puffs up like he thinks he can actually defend her actions to Andrew, before deflating. Knowing the argument is futile, he eats another nugget.

“McNuggies kept me company from East Coast to West, from Europe to Canada and back to America. No matter where we were, McNuggets tasted the same, a little source of familiarity in a new city or country.” Neil sounds whistful, as if he were fondly recalling a childhood friend and not describing some tactic borne of negligence or abuse while being literally hunted down.

Andrew imagines long car rides and empty rooms, Neil keeping himself silently entertained with bits of chicken for lack of better options.

Neil deserved better.

He hums in acknowledgment, before turning to look at the darkening sky.

Neil finished off the last of his nuggets, which as he claimed, left little mess. They stayed out there, breathing in the smoke of Neil’s still burning cigarette, Neil inching closer as the temperature starts to drop, until Andrew pulled him in close with a hand around his shoulder.

At one point—well, at most of the points in his life—Andrew wouldn’t have been able to imagine seeking comfort in physical or emotional intimacy.

Neil gave up all the details just now to distract Andrew from the demons that shoved him into an extra session with Bee earlier today and it should terrify Andrew how well Neil knows him.

It does terrify him, but it’s starting not to.

Slowly, Andrew is adjusting to this new normal he shares with Neil.

That doesn’t mean Neil gets to have the last word though.

“McJunkie.” Andrew tries to say it scornfully but can’t help the fondness that seeps through his voice.

It’s worth it though, because Neil’s gentle laughter soothes over Andrew’s soul even as his warm weight pressed into Andrew’s side keeps Andrew grounded.

Andrew wouldn’t mind getting used to this.

Maybe he already has. 

**Author's Note:**

> The next time Andrew gets them McDonald's, Neil's McNuggies come in a Happy Meal with every sauce available.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Comments and kudos are both much appreciated! Thanks for reading and come say hi on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/FaiaSakura) or [Tumblr](http://faiasakura.tumblr.com) ❤


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